Nature

Unique Otago wildlife, habitats, and ecosystems

About

The Nature Gallery explores our region’s diverse wildlife, from the mountains to the sea. See many of Otago’s native species right here, including marine mammals, birds, fish, and insects.

Aotearoa New Zealand’s ecosystems evolved in isolation, uninterrupted by major change for around 80 million years. Then humans arrived, bringing fire, new species, and hunting with them.

Before people settled here, land birds were the most common large terrestrial animals in New Zealand, and two thirds of them were found nowhere else. In isolation, they had diversified to fill the roles that mammals occupied in other parts of the world; some became gigantic, flightless, or ground nesting.

Today, several of the native bird species once present in Otago are locally extinct. Introduced predators, the loss of forest habitats, and hunting have all played a part in their demise.

You can see some of these lost birds in the Nature Gallery, along with several rare species that have survived with the help of ongoing conservation efforts.

Don't Miss

• The “last” takahē, believed to be the last of its kind until their (re)discovery in 1948

• A pettable Himalayan tahr

• Tuatara, native reptiles that are the only surviving members of their order

• Huia, extinct native birds once prized as zoological oddities and status symbols

• Autahi, a fully grown female leopard seal

• 11 exquisitely detailed dioramas that explore the habitats of New Zealand invertebrates, amphibians, and reptiles